page_title: Bissel truck
section_title: Equalizing
hierarchical_section_title: Bissel truck / Properties and use / Equalizing
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Le bissel Delta de la 141 R 1199 (dépôt de Villeneuve-St-Georges le 05/05/2007).
context_page_description: A Bissell or Bissel truck is a single-axle bogie which pivots towards the centre of a steam locomotive to enable it to negotiate curves more easily. Invented in 1857 by Levi Bissell and usually then known as a pony truck, it is a very simple and common means of designing a carrying wheel.
context_section_description: Partly because load was not equalized between the Bissell pony truck and the leading drivers, the pony truck did not become instantly popular in the US.  Locomotives in the UK were generally not equalized, so it was not considered a problem there.  John P. Laird was the first to attempt to equalize the pony truck with the drivers in 1857; he received a patent on the concept in 1866.  Laird's design was complex and did not find favor, although he incorporated it on some locomotives he built or rebuilt, particularly on the Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad and later the Pennsylvania Railroad.
  John H. Whetstone of Cincinnati, working for Niles and Company, was the next to devise a method for equalizing; in this scheme, the truck frame was itself the equalizing beam as well.  Niles went bankrupt before the patent was granted, and no locomotive was ever fitted with this design.
  A more successful scheme for equalizing the pony truck to the drivers was invented by William S. Hudson, superintendent of the Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works, and patented in 1864.  In this design, a large equalizing lever linked the front truck with a transverse bar connected to the front spring hangers of the driving wheels.  This design was an immediate success and was used on American-built locomotives until the end of steam building.
caption: Guide frame of a Bissel truck on French SNCF Class 141R1199 2-8-2 steam locomotive
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